100 Greatest Songs of the 80’s #23 Soul II Soul ft. Caron Wheeler – Back To Life (However Do You Want Me)

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Soul II Soul

Released: 1989

It’s not always wise to take a song’s title literally, but according to Soul II Soul’s Caron Wheeler, Back To Life was intended to capture the essence of heading back away from the light. The singer had only originally been a guest of the collective when she brought the idea to them in 1988, but the invitation was duly extended, a move hard to question when it’s groove and energy were so irresistible.

Fusing jazz, hip-hop and soul and almost simultaneously stark and orchestrated, it’s release was a turning point in what had up to then been almost exclusively a West-East flow across the North Atlantic. Through their success along with the likes of Massive Attack and Neneh Cherry, with a little unearthly power from the hereafter Soul II Soul duly helped to carve out a niche for future original British movements such as Trip-hop.

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Hi, my name is Andy & I live in Leeds, in northern England. I've been writing about music for more than ten years. My work outside of this blog is featured on Live4ever and Contact Music.